Deftech said in a statement that it would take up 1,700 sq m at the Putra World Trade Centre together with subsidiary Defence Services Sdn Bhd.

It said the AV-8 represented “a record of sorts and a first” in the Malaysian defence industry as the entire development process and maintenance throughout the life cycle of a minimum 20 years was local.

ACV-300 Adnan (photo : Cari)

The armoured-wheeled vehicle was the result of the support and cooperation of the Defence Ministry, army and the Malaysian Defence Industry Council, it added.

The company will also showcase the ACV 300 Adnan armoured command vehicle, the AV-4 armoured-wheeled vehicle, the PT-91M Pendekar main battle tank and the police version Modenas ATV.

Deftech said it would continue to pursue smart partnerships and develop expertise and technology know-how through technology transfer, system integration, development and commissioning from foreign partners.

South Africa’s State-owned defence industrial group Denel is part of a consortium that was given a Letter of Intent (LoI) by the Malaysian armed forces on Tuesday regarding new 8 x 8 armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs).

The consortium is led by Malaysian company Deftech and, in addition to Denel, includes FNSS of Turkey, which is a joint venture (JV) between the Turkish Nurol group and BAE Systems Land Systems & Armaments (a US subsidiary of the BAE Systems group) and Sapura Thales Electronics (STE), a JV between Malaysia’s Sapura group and Thales Communications of France. Denel, FNSS, and STE are all officially technology partners in the programme, as Malaysia will require local production of whatever systems are chosen.

The LoI shows strong interest in the AFV being offered by the consortium, but is not a contract. There is, as yet, no certainty about when Malaysia will decide to place a contract nor for the number of vehicles the country will acquire.

Nevertheless, Denel sees the LoI as good news because “it shows that they are very confident in our capabilities,” Denel group communication manager Sinah Phochana told Engineering News Online.

The Deftech consortium is offering Malaysia a combination of a vehicle designed by FNSS and a turret and associated weapons systems designed by Denel, which would also act as the systems integrator for the programme, with STE providing communications systems.

The turret would be similar with Badger (photo : Militaryphotos)

“The turret would be similar to that for the Badger,” she said. The Badger is the South African Army’s next generation infantry fighting vehicle, being developed under Project Hoefyster, and is based on the 8 x 8 Patria AMV AFV from Finland, which will be fitted with a turret designed and manufactured by Denel subsidiary Denel Land Systems (DLS).

Should the Malaysian LoI be followed by a firm contract, DLS will not be the only part of the South African group to benefit, as the AFV design being offered to the South East Asian country incorporates Ingwe antitank missiles, a product of Denel Dynamics. Another Denel company, PMP, could benefit from orders for ammunition.

The LoI was presented to Deftech at the Defence Services Asia 2010 exposition in Kuala Lumpur and Deftech, in turn, handed over LoIs to its partner companies.